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Written by: E. George
Published April 5, 2023 @ 8:40 PM ET
Warning: The following report describes violence against animals that may be offensive to some readers.
Floyd County (March 15, 2023) – An officer from the Floyd County Police Department received information regarding possible animal cruelty at a Malone Drive residence. A man had brought a dog into West Rome Animal Clinic with a severe eye infection but left before obtaining treatment because he could not afford it.
The suspect, Joel Hubert Vinson, dropped the dog off at home and drove himself to Redmond Hospital. The police and animal control officers met with him there and recognized him from a previous animal complaint at his house.
On January 7, 2023, they found and took custody of a severely emaciated, ill dog lying under a chair. On this day, Vinson told the officers he had been in the hospital since Sunday; however, the vet staff saw him on March 14, 2023.
Vinson explained that the dogs belonged to his boyfriend, who has been incarcerated at the Floyd County Jail since December 7, 2022. Their roommate allowed the officers entry to the residence and showed them the dog Vinson tried taking to the animal clinic.
The dog’s right eye was extremely crusted over and hanging from the eye socket. The canine had a severe overbite and broken teeth, and they estimated a score of 1-2 on the Purina Body Scale in terms of weight.
After animal control placed the dog into their van, they walked inside and saw dog urine covering the floor and dog feces smeared throughout the home. The roommate stated he had been living there for two months, and Vinson was in the hospital when he moved in.
He said he did not have money to pay for the dogs’ medical bills but had purchased dog food in the past. He said he had never seen Vinson purchase dog food, and they noted that the dog food containers were empty.
The roommate said that one of the dogs died, and Vinson “threw the dog on the top of the trash” and attempted to burn the body, but someone had called the police. Dispatch confirmed the story and advised that the incident occurred on February 17, 2023.
They placed the smaller dogs, all underweight, into the van and tried to catch an aggressive one in the backyard. There they discovered a dog’s skeleton with flesh and black and white fur still attached.
They found five black and white dogs, one black dog, one brown dog, and one deceased dog, and they suspected that more dogs had died on the property. While photographing the canines, the officer noticed an underweight female dog with a broken rib.
They traveled to Misfit Haven Animal Rescue, where Vinson claimed he told his roommate to bring the dogs, but the owner said that she had asked the couple to give her their dogs multiple times, and they always refused. She explained that Vinson would often call her asking for dog food, and she suspected that two of the dogs had died between December 7, 2022, and February 17, 2023.
They obtained Vinson’s boyfriend’s account from jail, and he stated that he had left the dogs in Vinson’s care while he served his sentence. He said all the black and white dogs belonged to him, and all the black and brown dogs belonged to Vinson, before surrendering his eight dogs to animal control.
Officers returned to the home to conduct a search warrant and found a piece of bone from a deceased dog under the kitchen table. They saw multiple dog treats, meal supplements, and flea and tick care, and “the refrigerators were filled with food which could have been provided to the dogs in desperate need of food.”
Outside, they located a dog’s skull with a significant amount of fur and the same underbite as some of the other dogs.
The animal clinic reported that five of the dogs scored levels 1 or 2 on the Purina Body Scale, and one succumbed to injuries. They said two dogs weighed more than the others, one was even overweight, and they deduced that Vinson had only been feeding his two dogs and none of his boyfriend’s.
On March 27, 2023, officers arrested Vinson at his home and transported him to the Floyd County Jail, where he was charged with multiple counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. This case is currently pending in court.
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]
[NARRATIVE #1 on March 15, 2023]
On March 15th, 2023 I was notified of possible Cruelty to Animals incident at 141 Malone Drive. [REDACTED]; the director over Animal Control contacted me in regards to a dog that was brought to West Rome Animal Clinic in desperate need of veterinarian care.
The owner of the dog brought the small black and white dog to the Vet with a severe eye infection, but left due to not having the proper funds to afford the price the Vet had stated. The owner then drove himself to Redmond Hospital. I met with [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] from Animal Control at Redmond Hospital in room 216 to speak with the dog’s owner. The owner was identified as Joel Vinson, whom, [REDACTED] and I recognized from a previous Animal complaint from January 7th, 2023.
On January 7th, 2023 Officer Carranza responded to 141 Malone. On Officer Carranza’s body camera footage there was one dog that was severely emaciated and appeared to be sick laying under a chair. [REDACTED] with Animal Control then took custody of that dog. Joel stated that he has been in the hospital since Sunday, although he was seen at the vet office on March 14th, 2023 requesting that Vet put to the dog to sleep due to its condition. Joel informed us that he took the dog home before coming to Redmond Medical Center.
While speaking with Joel he stated that the dogs did not belong to him, but his partner Nick who is currently incarcerated at the Floyd County Jail. Joel gave [REDACTED] permission to contact his roommate ([WITNESS #1]). Joel stated that we had permission to look at the dog at his residence. [WITNESS #1] then advised [REDACTED] via phone call that we could come and take a look at the dog. Nick has been incarcerated since December 7th, 2022.
Once at the residence; [WITNESS #1] brought out the dog that they attempted to take to West Rome Animal Clinic. The dog’s right eye was extremely crusted over and appeared to be hanging out of the eye’s socket. The dog had an extreme over bites with teeth that appeared to have been broken and very skinny. Based off of my experience and knowledge and speaking with [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] we all agreed that the dog’s Body Scale was approximately a 1-2 on the Purina Body scale.
[REDACTED] then placed the dog in the Animal Control’s vehicle. [WITNESS #1] then invited [REDACTED], [REDACTED] and I inside of the residence after putting an aggressive dog in the back yard. Once inside of the residence there was dog urine covering the floor and smears of dog feces throughout the house. [WITNESS #1] stated that he has been living at the residence for approximately 2 months and when he arrived, Joel was in the hospital and he had “a lot to clean up” from the dogs. [WITNESS #1] informed me that he did not have the money to provide Joel for the dogs vet bill, but has purchased dog food in the past.
[WITNESS #1] also stated that he has never seen Joel purchase dog food, and both dog food containers were empty. [WITNESS #1] also stated that one of the dogs had died and Joel “threw the dog on the top of the trash.” [WITNESS #1] informed me that he took the dog’s deceased body to try and burn it, but the police were called. According to dispatch this occurred on February 17th, 2023.
Once [REDACTED] got all of the smaller dogs loaded up in the Animal Control Vehicle we attempted to catch the aggressive dog in the back yard. While in the back yard, I located what appeared to be a deceased dog’s skeleton. There was black and white fur still attached to the bones, and pieces of flesh. The bones did not appear to have been severely burned; indicating it could have been a different dog, or the current dogs were starved to the point of pulling the deceased dog from the burn pit to consume it.
I bagged the skeletal remains and placed the bones into a plastic bag for evidence to do a necropsy. Joel also stated that he even thought about “dumping” the dog on the side of the road so someone would find it, but was not able to do it out of good faith. Joel did not want to leave the dog by itself while injured.
[REDACTED], [REDACTED] and I then responded to West Rome Animal Clinic to seek immediate Veterinarian assistance for the injured dog. The vet then took emergency custody of two of the dogs due to their conditions.
The vet stated to me that she will have to provide them with warm fluids and we could not wet the dogs for photos because their too frail and this could cause them to go into shock, or hypothermia from being emaciated. It is often that dog’s will be wet to obtain better photos when they have long hair to properly see the conditions the dogs are in. The vet stated that each of these dogs with the breed that they are should weigh around 18 pounds.
[REDACTED], [REDACTED] and I then went to Animal Control to do intake photos and weights of the remaining dogs. There was a female dog that appeared to have a broken rib and was under weight. All of the black and white dogs collected from the residence were severely underweight.
From Animal Control we went to 718 Kingston Hwy (Misfit Haven Animal Rescue) where Joel told [WITNESS #1] to take the dogs. While on scene, I made contact with [WITNESS #2] whom is the owner of the building Nick was renting to use as the Rescue. [WITNESS #2] informed me that she has asked for Nick and Joel to give her the dogs, but they have refused multiple times.
[WITNESS #2] also stated that Joel will call and ask her for dog food often. [WITNESS #2] stated that she went to provide dog food before and the front door was “kicked in” therefore she did not feed the dogs. [WITNESS #2] also informed me that she believes that 2 of Nick’s dogs have died since he has been incarcerated since December 7th, 2022 but before February 17th, 2023.
[REDACTED] and [REDACTED] then went to the Floyd County Jail to speak with Nick. Nick stated that all of the black and white dogs belong to him and the all black and brown dogs belong to Joel. Nick left Joel in primary care the dogs while he has been incarcerated. Nick stated that he has 8 dogs and completed a surrender form for all of his dogs. While on scene, we collected 5 alive black and white dogs, 1 all black dog, 1 brown dog and one deceased dog. This is indicating that there may be other dogs on the property that have died. Joel did not surrender any of the dogs at this time.
I then returned to the property with Investigator Webb, [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] with a search warrant. The search warrant’s purpose was to locate any more deceased dogs, food or water sources, and or veterinarian care. While conducting the search warrant, [REDACTED] and I located multiple dog treats, containers filled with dog bones, treats and meal supplements.
There was veterinarian care for fleas and ticks located in the bedroom that Nick and Joel share, along with supplements for dogs. Located underneath the kitchen table [REDACTED] and I then located a piece of bone from a deceased dog.
The refrigerators were filled with food in which could have been provided to the dogs in desperate need of food. Outside of the home in the backyard, Investigator Webb and [REDACTED] located a dog’s skull. The skull was not burned, still had significant amount of fur on it and had the same under-bite the other dogs had. The skull was taken as evidence for necropsy.
The backyard had an empty dog food bag near the pile of trash. I observed several to-go food containers that appeared to have been chewed on by a dog searching for food. Inside of the sheds located in the backyard I located more dog bones and small amount of wet canned dog food. Investigator Webb and I both searched through the trash in the back yard to look for any possible deceased dogs. We did not located any deceased animals inside of the bags of trash.
A copy of the search warrant was left with [WITNESS #1].
[End of Narrative]
[NARRATIVE #2 on March 20, 2023]
On 03/20/2023 I spoke with [REDACTED] at Animal Control. [REDACTED] provided me with written statements from West Rome Animal Clinic in regards to the dog’s Vinson brought in. [REDACTED] also provided me with the intake paperwork for the rest of the dogs and reports from animal control officers.
I spoke with Dr. [REDACTED] as well and he provided me with the BCS levels for each dog. It appeared that Vinson was feeding his two personal dogs; Vinson 6 (Missy) and Vinson 7 (Coco) but not the dogs that belonged to his boyfriend (Adams) while he is currently incarcerated. Missy was overweight and Vinson 7 was too aggressive with officers to get a weight on her at the time of intake.
Dogs are listed as the followed:
Vinson 1: Was taken to West Rome Animal Clinic. This dog succumbed to it’s injuries and passed away on 03/16/2023. This dog was a level 1 on the Purina body scale.
Vinson 2: Was taken to West Rome Animal Clinic. This dog survived but had a severe UTI and was a level 1 on the Purina Body Scale.
Vinson 3: Taken to PAWS. Intake weight was 8.2 pounds. This dog was level 1 on the Purina Body Scale.
Vinson 4: Taken to PAWS. Intake weight was 7.8 pounds. This dog was level 2 on the Purina Boy Scale.
Vinson 5: Taken to PAWS. Intake weight was 8.2 pounds. This dog was level 1 on the Purina Body Scale.
Vinson 6: Taken to PAWS. Dogs name was Missy. She weighed 10 pounds at intake. This dog was a level 4 on the Purina Body Scale.
Vinson 7: Taken to PAWS. Dogs name was Coco. Dog was too aggressive to handle at intake.
While speaking with [REDACTED]’s she informed me that the two sets of dog bones that I located on scene were from two different dogs. The bone structures did not line up to be the same dog.
[End of Narrative]
[NARRATIVE #3 on March 27, 2023]
On the above date and time I, Officer Wishart arrived at 141 Malone Dr in referemce to a warrant service.
Upon arrival I met with Joel Vinson. I gave Joel verbal commands to place his hands behind his back and advised Joel he was being detained. I confirmed Joel’s information through dispatch to confirm the active warrant. Dispatch confirmed the warrant active.
I placed Joel under arrest. Joel was searched incident to arrest and placed in the back of my patrol car. Joel was transported to Floyd County jail and turned over to jail staff.
[End of Narrative]
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